More Topics

Weather Forecast

College men's hockey: Bulldogs welcome a rising Colorado College program to Duluth to open NCHC play

Colorado College coach Mike Haviland, shown during 2018 NCHC Media Day in St. Paul, brings a rising Tigers program to Duluth this weekend to take on top-ranked Minnesota Duluth at Amsoil Arena. This marks the Bulldogs' first NCHC series of the season. Clint Austin / caustin@duluthnews.com

Colorado College coach Mike Haviland has mixed feelings about getting swept at home last week by second-ranked St. Cloud State.

A year ago, the NCHC-champion Huskies pounded the Tigers 6-1 and 5-1 in St. Cloud in their lone series. This year, the Tigers led the Huskies both nights early in the third period. Yet, Haviland's team lost both nights, getting outscored by a combined 6-1 in the third to lose 5-3 and 2-1.

"You're encouraged that you know what we can do," Haviland said. "But really disappointed we let it slip away."

The Tigers will get another crack at the Huskies in mid-February, but before then, they'll measure themselves against another top opponent in Minnesota Duluth, which is currently ranked No. 1. The Bulldogs, the preseason favorite to win the NCHC, host the Tigers at 7:07 p.m. Friday and Saturday at Amsoil Arena.

UMD (6-1-1 overall, 0-0 NCHC) will also visit Colorado Springs on Feb. 1-2, which is the weekend before the Tigers (4-3-1, 0-2) travel to St. Cloud State. While this week and last are good barometers of where the Tigers stand compared to the NCHC's elite, Haviland said he'll learn the most about where his program is at after facing the Bulldogs and Huskies during the first two weeks of February.

"Right now you're looking to see where are you at playing the teams that are picked to finish one and two in my mind. Where are you at?" Haviland said. "It's a measuring stick this early on, but I think February, when you are fighting for playoff positions and you're trying to gear up for playoffs, is when you want your team playing the best.

"I look at UMD last year. They were up and down in the first half and in the second half unbeatable."

The Tigers are in their fifth season under Haviland, who took over the program in 2014-15 after Scott Owens led the Tigers to just seven wins in his final season. It took Haviland until his third season in Colorado Springs to surpass seven wins — he had eight in 2016-17 — and won a program-best eight in NCHC play a season ago.

The Tigers were a Haviland-best 15-17-5 overall and 8-12-4 in conference play in 2017-18.

Despite the third-period setbacks a week ago to start conference play, the momentum from last year has carried over for the Tigers, who went 4-1-1 in nonconference play in October.

The key to Colorado College's positive start is an expansion of its depth, specifically at forward. No longer are the Tigers just a one-line team that relies on senior forwards Trey Bradley and Mason Bergh and junior forward Nick Halloran to score. Those three are still putting up points, but they only have six of the team's 31 goals after eight games.

"Their line is one of the best in the country, but they've got more than that," said UMD coach Scott Sandelin, whose Bulldogs swept the lone series against the Tigers last year, winning a wild 6-5 game, followed by a 5-1 thumping in Colorado Springs. "They are getting a lot of secondary scoring away from that line that's giving them a lot of balance. Those guys are starting to heat up.

"They've got other weapons, so defensively it's going to be a big challenge for us."

Halloran, a first-team All-NCHC and second-team All-American last year, and Bradley each have three goals this year as does junior forward Chris Wilkie, despite missing last week's series. Westin Michaud, a senior forward from Cloquet, is second on the team in scoring with four goals and junior forward Alex Berardinelli leads with five.

Wilkie, Michaud and Berardinelli play on separate lines, meaning a strong defensive team like the Bulldogs can't just focus on shutting down the Tigers' top line. They have four lines to contend with this season.

"We have more pace in our game, we have more skill, we're scoring more goals and I think we're deeper," Haviland said. "It takes a while to build that and get that. That's what gives us the belief that you can win games instead of going in and saying we have to play a perfect game against a team. I don't think we're in that stage anymore."

COLORADO COLLEGE (4-3-1) AT NO. 1 UMD (6-1-1)

What: NCHC series

When: 7:07 p.m. Friday/Saturday

Where: Amsoil Arena

TV: My9

Radio: KDAL 610 AM/103.9 FM

Internet: nchc.tv (video)

Twitter: @mattwellens

Fast facts: The Bulldogs are 11-1-3 in their last 15 games against the Tigers and have more wins (99) over CC than any other opponent in the program's 75-year history. That lone loss was 2-1 on Jan. 7, 2017.